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Commentary

FIFA October rankings, what's the value of system that gave USA boost after exit?

For those who don't put much stock in the FIFA rankings, try this one on for size.

The United States was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup yet climbed one spot in the October FIFA
Rankings released on Monday.

And the same October rankings are being used to seed teams for the 2018 World Cup draw Dec. 1 in Moscow.

The USA is now ranked No. 27 in the
world. It's one of seven teams ranked in the top 32 in the world that have already been eliminated from the 32-team World Cup.

At least three more and as many as five more teams ahead of
the USA won't advance out of the UEFA playoffs so the along with the four teams ahead of it that have been eliminated -- Chile, Wales, Netherlands and Slovakia -- the USA would have ranked somewhere
around 19th, which would have put it in Pot 3, if it qualified.

The big news in the October rankings was that France overtook Spain for the seventh and last place in Pot 1 -- the top
seeds -- along with Russia.

Host Russia will be the lowest ranked team in the tournament if Honduras and New Zealand lose their playoffs.

Besides Spain, England and Italy (if
it qualifies) are in Pot 2. Mexico is also a top 15 team among the teams headed to Russia.

The reason is that there is a delay in publishing the rankings. They are not updated day to day. Only monthly. Any reporter/ writer would know that. The rankings are pretty accurate according to games played and opponents. Just using WC qualifying matches, how would you rank the teams? If they qualify they all have a chance to win the WC. According to your logic they would all be number 1 then.

As Ed said, the ratings are fair... With today's automation there is little justification for monthly updates. On the other hand losing one game should necessarly change/drop you. Yeah losing to #99 while being kicked out of the WC is no complement. USA will probably drop more BUT will be back.

Ahem, when Clemson gets knocked out of second place in the rankings and everyone below moves up one, is that saying anything about the ones who moved up one, OR is that all about Clemson having a bad loss?

Those who who don't understand the limitations of a ranking or the nature of how they only update periodically shouldn't be ripping the rankings. And just because you can change your opinions quicker than the rankings update. doesn't mean you are smarter than the rankings.